B’nai B’rith International deplores comments by Ecuadorian Ambassador to the U.N. Horacio Sevilla Borja comparing Israel to the Nazi regime.

Sevilla delivered a statement on Nov. 30 at the United Nations General Assembly during the body's “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” in which he quoted a speech once given by Cuba's late president, Fidel Castro: “We repudiate with all our strength the persecution and genocide that in its time unleashed Nazism against the Hebrew people. But I cannot remember anything more similar in our contemporary history than the eviction, persecution and genocide that today imperialism and Zionism do against the Palestinian people.”

We are appalled by Sevilla's libelous and despicable comparison between the democratic Jewish state, struggling to defend itself while continuously offering peace and coexistence, to the barbarous Third Reich, which murdered millions of innocents on the basis of an ideology of racial supremacy. These remarks manifest rank anti-Semitism and incitement of the first order. Their airing at the world body is yet another example of the platform the U.N. offers to demagogues who promote violence and hatred toward Israel and the Jewish people.

The government of Ecuador should designate new representation at the U.N. in keeping with an actual commitment to historical truth and peacemaking rather than foul and uninformed provocation.